Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Instagram
Two Russian citizens accused by the U.S. of plotting to destabilize the Moldovan government this week are artists who claimed to hold anti-war views as recently as last year—and who appeared to be growing frustrated with how the invasion of Ukraine was hurting their business.
The couple, 37-year-old Aleksey Losev and 33-year-old Anna Travnikova, were sanctioned by the U.S. government on Tuesday for their role in “the government of the Russian Federation’s destabilization campaign and continued malign influence campaigns in Moldova,” along with five other Russian nationals, a press release from the U.S. Treasury’s office said.
According to the announcement, the freshly sanctioned Russians operated as malign influence agents in a “large global information operation connected to the Russian Federation that targets Ukraine, countries bordering Ukraine including Moldova, Balkan countries, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.” They are accused of “provoking, training, and overseeing” anti-government activities in Moldova while maintaining ties to Russian intelligence services.